Trio of Aggies reach double-digit kills in top-25 road sweep of Utah

Match #4: No. 10 Texas A&M 3, No. 21 Utah 0
S1: A&M, 25-19; S2: A&M, 25-23; S3: A&M, 25-18
Records: Texas A&M (4-0, 0-0), Utah (3-1, 0-0)
Box Score

The battle of the undefeated in Salt Lake City ended with No. 10 Texas A&M sweeping No. 21 Utah, 3-0.

“I was very proud of our team,” head coach Jamie Morrison said postgame. “I thought Utah pushed back hard two or three times within that match. I thought we let off the gas a tiny bit in the middle of that, but I think it was more on them playing well. I like the resilience from our group.”

This star-studded matchup comprised of three players on the AVCA Player of the Year Watchlist, including Logan Lednicky, Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and Utah’s Kamryn Gibadlo.

The Aggies had made a great impression by the first timeout, leading 9-3. Lednicky and Cos-Okpalla started strong, taking advantage of the many errors the Utes made initially.

A&M’s defensive system fell into a solid pace as the match began, but Utah slowly began to tinker with its offense and found some holes.

The Utes trailed 17-15 as the Aggies called their first timeout to get back in a groove. This quick break worked as Emily Hellmuth's three consecutive kills helped swiftly get the A&M lead to 21-15, prompting the Utes to take their final timeout of the set.

“They actually had a little push to 3-4 points, and I liked the way we responded to that,” Morrison told ESPN2. “We broke it open.”

The Aggies won the first set 25-19.

The second stanza started a little shaky with a couple of errors, but kills from Hellmuth and Kyndal Stowers helped the Aggies quickly find a rhythm. By this point in the match, Stowers had three swings for three kills.

Taryn Wright, TexAgs

Kyndal Stowers contributed 11 kills, 11 digs and a pair of blocks in the Aggies’ victory. 

Utah called a timeout as the Aggies led 9-4, with Hellmuth dominating with eight kills. She quickly secured her ninth of the night out of the timeout.

The Utes showed some spirit as the set became quite competitive, leading to a 15-15 tie, before taking the lead at A&M’s first timeout, 17-16. The immediate 11th kill from Hellmuth tied the set back up after the break. However, a couple of attack errors by the Aggies gave the lead back to Utah.

“They pushed, and we said it going in: It was going to have to be us playing good volleyball,” Morrison told ESPN2. “We got up a little bit first, and then they pushed back, and then we pushed back. That’s the biggest thing you could hope for from your team.”

The competitiveness continued through the rest of the second set as the score stayed neck and neck until the end. Five back-to-back kills from Lednicky were enough to secure the second, 25-23.

The third frame started with an impressive dig from Ava Underwood, leading to Lednicky’s 14th kill.

The athletic aggressiveness seen in the back half of the second set resumed during the third as it mostly remained a one-point game until bad passing errors from the Utes gave the Aggies a break, resulting in a 13-8 lead.

Substitutions of Taylor Humphrey and Morgan Perkins helped elevate the momentum as they kept the lead until the end of the match. At this point, Perkins had five swings for five kills in the match.

Back-to-back-to-back service aces from Maddie Waak helped secure the game before Cos-Okpalla finished it with her third kill of the match. The Aggies won the set 25-18.

Lednicky's 17 kills, achieved with a .355 hitting percentage, helped hand Utah their first loss of 2025. Hellmuth also finished the game with 12 kills as she had remained a consistent offensive player throughout the match. In her fourth match as an Aggie, Stowers continued to shine as she recorded 11 kills.

Waak again ran seamless plays as she ended with 43 assists as well as a career-high four service aces.

“It was an awesome performance by her,” Morrison said. “I thought she set a really good bench in terms of the way she was thinking about it, too. The offense was clicking in terms of setting what was open while it was open, and when it changed, she changed right away. She was a big part of pushing back, and those service aces are not easy. I am proud of her.”

A&M’s sweep of the Utes marks the fourth win for the Aggs as they remain undefeated.

The action in Utah continues Friday night when the Maroon & White face Utah State at 8 p.m. CT.